derelicts
Skid row dwellers
Derelicts are people or things that have been abandoned and left to deteriorate.
A derelict ship drifts crewless; a derelict building stands vacant and crumbling.
Applied to people, derelict usually means a homeless person or vagrant, often with connotations of alcoholism or social failure: The park bench was occupied by derelicts.
The word carries judgment—implying not just misfortune but neglect or dissolution.
Ruined through neglect
- forsakenCompletely abandoned or discarded
- vacantWithout an occupant
- desertedLeft behind, uninhabited
- uninhabitedHaving no occupants
desolate · disused · crumbling · decaying · decrepit · condemned · ruined · gutted
Left behind completely
- disrepairPoor maintained condition
- decayGradual organic breakdown
- deteriorationProcess of declining quality
- unattendedLacking supervision or care
unkempt · forgotten · ignored · shabby · worn · fading · withering · atrophy
Socially rejected individuals
- ostracizedExcluded from a group
- rejectsRefuses or discards
- misfitsThose who don't belong
- exilesBanished persons
alienated · banished · scapegoats · untouchables · castaways · lepers · unwanted · shunned
Protective outer coverings
- sunkenDescended beneath water level
- wreckageDestroyed remains of something
- salvageRecovering damaged goods
- barnaclesShell-armored marine clingers
reef · submerged · maritime · nautical · seabed · debris · rusting · grounded
Without a dwelling
- driftersAimless travelers, homeless rovers
- vagabondsHomeless itinerant travelers
- wanderersThose who drift aimlessly
- transientsTemporary occupants or travelers
hobos · bums · unhoused · down-and-outs · dispossessed · outcasts · panhandlers · beggars
dilapidated
Ruined through neglect
uninhabited · desolate · disused · crumbling · decaying · decrepit · condemned · ruined · gutted · overgrown
abandoned
Left behind completely
- disrepairPoor maintained condition
- decayGradual organic breakdown
- deteriorationProcess of declining quality
unattended · unkempt · forgotten · ignored · shabby · worn · fading · withering · atrophy · erosion
pariahs
Socially rejected individuals
- ostracizedExcluded from a group
- rejectsRefuses or discards
- misfitsThose who don't belong
exiles · alienated · banished · scapegoats · untouchables · castaways · lepers · unwanted · shunned · disowned
hulls
Protective outer coverings
- sunkenDescended beneath water level
- wreckageDestroyed remains of something
- salvageRecovering damaged goods
barnacles · reef · submerged · maritime · nautical · seabed · debris · rusting · grounded · listing
homeless
Without a dwelling
- driftersAimless travelers, homeless rovers
- vagabondsHomeless itinerant travelers
- wanderersThose who drift aimlessly
transients · hobos · bums · unhoused · down-and-outs · dispossessed · outcasts · panhandlers · beggars · itinerants
- outcastsoutcast, pariah, pariahs, outcasts, outlaws
- povertypoverty line, poor, poverty rate, impoverished, generational poverty
- slackersslackers, loafers, idlers, idler, layabouts
- homelessnesshomeless, homeless shelters, unhoused, homeless veterans, houseless
derelictspillars of the community
Respected, influential local figures
contributors · achievers · workers · taxpayers · professionals
- dereliction of dutyWillful failure at responsibilities
- derelict shipAbandoned, deteriorating vessel
- derelict buildingVacant, deteriorating structure